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IRON MAIDEN‘s “The Book Of Souls” world tour has been on the road since late February, playing to over 1.5 million fans with 72 shows in 36 counties and six continents. They will play the final show on Thursday, August 4 in Germany at Wacken Open Air festival. ARTE Concert is going to feature the entire iconic performance on livestream. The spectacular gig will get lavish camera attention and can be accessed anywhere in the world — a sensational experience for anyone who cannot get to show.

IRON MAIDEN manager Rod Smallwood says: “We decided to finish the tour at Wacken as it is the ideal way to end this magical tour playing to 80,000 core metal fans at this legendary metal festival.

“Wacken has become such as international event with many thousands of fans from many other countries around the world joining and celebrating with the German fans, so it is perfect for the final show of a memorable tour.

“Everywhere we’ve played, the fans have been amazing and the reaction to the new songs and stage show has been phenomenal. The band has loved every minute on stage. So when Wacken and ARTE asked us to consider a livestream of our performance there, we jumped at the chance to give our fans an end of tour gift.

“Streaming this final show live globally allows us to thank the many fans we played to so far, and, for those who couldn’t get to see us this time round, a chance to see just how spectacular the live concert is and what they missed!”

Wolfgang Bergmann of ARTE says: “The festival summer by ARTE Concert is heading for an exceptional highlight, showing a live stream of British legends IRON MAIDEN performing their final show of an incredible tour at the Wacken Open Air. An audience of millions, in Europe and for the first time worldwide, know by now that ARTE is taking the festivals to anywhere you are.”

Holger Hübner and Thomas Jensen of ICS/Wacken say: “We are incredibly happy to be able to give all these IRON MAIDEN and Wacken Open Air fans worldwide this highlight at the close of the spectacular ‘The Book Of Souls’ tour. Heavy metal fans are the best fans in the world, and IRON MAIDEN fans are unparalleled. It is so brilliant that everybody who could not get a ticket for the Wacken Open Air will be able to enjoy this ‘Night To Remember’.”

SEPULTURA members Max Cavalera (guitar, vocals) and Igor Cavalera (drums) will celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the band’s classic album, “Roots”, by performing the LP in its entirety on a North American tour in September/October. They will be joined by their CAVALERA CONSPIRACY bandmates Marc Rizzo (guitar) and Johny Chow (bass).

“Metalheads! It’s time,” says Max. “20 years ago, we released the ‘Roots’ album and changed the face of metal forever. Now, we’re returning to ‘the roots’ to show everybody the magic and inspiration of the ‘Roots’ live experience! You cannot miss this return to roots 2016!”

Igor adds: “I am very proud to play ‘Roots’ again, to reaffirm that after 20 years, it still moves people! We hit the stage again with ‘Roots’ to destroy everywhere we pass by!”

The tour will feature support from THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, COMBICHRIST, ALLEGAEON, ALL HAIL THE YETI and ONI. Fans who attend the shows will be able to purchase special meet-and-greet passes from the merchandise booth. Max and Igor will take photos with fans who grab meet-and-greet passes and sign copies of the “Roots” CD, cassette or vinyl. This applies only to the “Roots” album. Only one autograph and one photo will be permitted per person.

Tickets for most markets are on sale beginning today (Friday, July 29) at 10 a.m. ET.

Later this year, Warner Music will release a special vinyl edition of “Roots”, in addition to a CD/vinyl box set of classic SEPULTURA records, with more surprises in store.

Max and Igor played all of “Roots” at this year’s edition of the Amnesia Rockfest on Friday, June 24. Fan-filmed video footage can be seen below.

Max spoke to Holland’s FaceCulture about how he looks back on the “Roots” album twenty years later. He said: “Yeah, [the personal stuff around the band] was chaotic, but musically, it was good. I think ‘Roots’ is an excellent record. It’s a very brave record. It’s a very fearless record in terms of saying, ‘We’re gonna do this. No matter what people say, we’re gonna do it.’ And we did it. And it was a huge risk. Not many bands take that risk. And we stuck to our guns and put the album out. And I think it was a very interesting record, because I think it was the beginning of my experiences in world music, which I really love, and bringing metal… making metal different. You can combine indigenous sounds and stuff with metal and make something cool with it. So I think ‘Roots’ was the blueprint for all that; it was like the first one that was like that. We went to the Xavantes tribe and recorded with them. It was killer. It was an amazing experience.”

Asked in a December 2013 interview with DeadRhetoric.com if he was a proponent of the down-tuned guitar approach, like Max was, around the time when bands like KORN and the DEFTONES were just beginning to take off in terms of popularity, SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser said: “At the beginning, not much. I was skeptical of the low tuning because bands like KORN or the DEFTONES, they don’t have the fast pace of SEPULTURA‘s music. I was concerned to lose that kind of fast ability and the picking, the heavy picking on sloppy, low strings. But there are so many possibilities of using heavier-gauge strings, which give that kind of tension, and you don’t lose that ability to play fast. ‘Trauma Of War’, the song that opens the [new SEPULTURA] album [‘The Mediator Between Head And Hands Must Be The Heart’], it’s in low tuning, but it’s a very fast song, but we don’t lose that kind of ability. I learned how to do deal with that, and you open a lot of worlds in music, but yeah, at the beginning I was a little skeptical.”

Speaking to Live-Metal.net in 2009, Max admitted that he drew inspiration from some of the so-called early “nu metal” bands during the songwriting process for “Roots”. He explained: “SEPULTURA did [take] a little bit of an influence from KORN and DEFTONES in some areas. And the funny thing is that we influenced those bands from when they started out. I talked to the KORN guys and they said they listened to ‘Chaos A.D.’ religiously when they started — it was like one of their favorite records. So it’s kind of a 360 degrees kind of influence — back and forth.”

“Roots”, along with 1993’s “Chaos A.D.”, is considered SEPULTURA‘s most commercially successful release, having been certified gold in 2005 by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for U.S. shipments in excess of 500,000 copies.

In 1996, Max exited SEPULTURA after the rest of the band fired Max‘s wife Gloria as their manager.

Igor left SEPULTURA in June 2006 due to “artistic differences.” His departure from the band came five months after he announced that he was taking a break from SEPULTURA‘s touring activities to spend time with his second wife and their new son (who was born in January 2006).

After touring for a year and a half throughout almost every corner of the world and leaving fans of all nationalities breathless, the time has come for NIGHTWISH to immortalize their “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” tour on DVD. Therefore, the symphonic metal visionaries are set to release their new live milestone, “Vehicle Of Spirit” on November 4, featuring not only two full concerts, but also plenty of bonus material.

“The title ‘Vehicle Of Spirit’ came from a friend of Troy‘s [Donockley, multi-instrumentalist], who after seeing our show a few years ago defined NIGHTWISH as ‘a vehicle of spirit that defies category.’ That beautiful description has followed us ever since, and felt like a perfect match as the DVD title,” states NIGHTWISH keyboardist and songwriter Tuomas Holopainen.

Sold-out arenas and spectacular shows with never before seen pyro effects, wind machines, video screens and of course NIGHTWISH‘s incomparable melodies are the elements that made their latest tour so unique. Special highlights for the band have been two particular shows though: The one in London, where they not only played their hymns such as “Élan” and the majestic “The Greatest Show On Earth” to more than 12,000 fans, but also welcomed the world famous scientist Richard Dawkins live on stage with them. Richard Dawkins‘s works had a massive impact on the thematical orientation of their latest studio album ”Endless Forms Most Beautiful”. Finland’s Tampere show however was a home run for the band and never before NIGHTWISH had such an immense stage production with them:

“I would say the main part of the DVD are those two shows, both Wembley and Tampere,” says Tuomas. “Wembley is mentioned first due to its recognizability and legendary status. I remember the show being very special, both a goal achieved, and a starting point. The crowd was heartwarming. The presence of Richard Dawkins on stage was just mind-blowing. The overall experience was a once-in-a-lifetime thrill ride! The show in Ratina Stadion, Tampere, was a home crowd specialty (for four-sixths of the band) with the biggest stage production we’ve ever had. A lovely atmosphere throughout the concert, with many same faces in the front row as there were 15 years ago. Heartfelt.”

When it comes to the fine artwork of the DVD, NIGHTWISH decided to walk different paths this time and come up with a little alternative idea, as Tuomas explains.

“We didn’t want to include a traditional band shot for the cover, as on the previous DVD release ‘Showtime, Storytime’,” he says. “So we started brainstorming on different options and the idea of a classic silent movie era Hollywood visuals quickly came up. With those classic slogans the cover has a little tongue-in-cheek-touch to it, but it’s still classy and eye catching in its simplicity and originality.”

Planet Rock‘s Wyatt conducted an interview with EUROPE singer Joey Tempest and drummer Ian Haugland backstage at Ramblin’ Man Fair on July 23 at Mote Park, Maidstone, England. You can now watch the chat below.

On EUROPE‘s plans for the coming months:

Joey: “We’re looking forward to recording the next album. We’ll probably go into the studio the beginning of next year and release it next year. And we’ll be touring in between as well.”

On how EUROPE managed to survive the the rise of grunge in the early ’90s when so many other ’80s hard rock acts didn’t:

Joey: “You have to take the long way around. The first meeting [about a reunion] we had at Mic‘s [Michaeli, keyboards] apartment in 2003, we said, ‘We have so much baggage, so much stigma. C’mon. We have to take the long way around. It’s gonna take four albums, perhaps, before maybe some journalists are even listening to the records.’ So we knew that; we knew it from the beginning. But this is what we wanna do. We wanna do it long haul, like DEEP PURPLE or whatever; we wanna do it. So that’s one way of doing it. But also being curious about writing and about getting better at your instrument and not get caught up in trying to get hit singles; that’s kind of dangerous. And just make great records. I thnk it started with [2009’s] ‘Last Look At Eden’; we started to get a grip on things. And then [2012’s] ‘Bag Of Bones’ did really well, and now [2015’s] ‘War Of Kings’.”

Ian: “I think also one of the reasons why we managed to come back was that we actually took a break in the ’90s; we said, ‘Okay, enough’s enough.’ So we never grinded the band down to…”

Joey: “We did solo albums. I did three solo albums. Ian played on loads of albums. John Norum moved to L.A. and did albums with DOKKEN and himself. So we learned stuff in other ways about music. And then we came back, and it felt like we’d just been away for lunch. We did ‘Start From The Dark’ in 2004.”

On celebrating the 30th anniversary of the “The Final Countdown” album with a short tour at the end of 2016:

Joey: “We wanna mark it. It’s gonna be fun to play songs like ‘Time Has Come’ and play the whole ‘The Final Countdown’ album. It’s gonna be kind of different.”

RES 9 Management, along with Mascot Label Group, has announced that Rik Emmett and his new band, RESOLUTION9, have just delivered an album of eleven brand new rockers as part of a multi-album, worldwide deal. The album, titled “RES 9”, is tentatively slated to be released through Mascot Label Group in November.

The members of RESOLUTION9 are from Rik‘s touring quartet: Dave Dunlop on guitar, Steve Skingley on bass, and Paul DeLong on drums, with Dave and Steve co-producing the project. Much of the album was recorded and mixed at Mississauga’s famed MetalWorks Studios, where Rik enjoyed a profoundly comfortable re-connectivity to his own roots. In fact, the other two founding members of TRIUMPH (Gil Moore and Mike Levine, from the trio that received eighteen gold and nine platinum awards in Canada and the U.S. in the ’70s and ’80s) reunite with Rik as special guests on “The Grand Parade”, a song that conjures 1979’s “Suitcase Blues”.

Additionally, legendary guitarist Alex Lifeson of RUSH performs on two stellar tracks, with James LaBrie of DREAM THEATER contributing extraordinary guest vocals on two cuts as well.

Canadian rock and Juno Hall Of Famer Rik Emmett says: “I’m really happy and grateful that Mascot Label Group gave our band complete freedom and trusted us to do our best.

“Some might see this as a comeback record, but I’m really proud of the vitality the band generated.

“For me, it’s always about the songwriting — how the melodies and sonic landscapes capture the storytelling.”

After twenty years apart, Emmett, Levine and Moore reunited for appearances at the 2008 editions of the Sweden Rock Festival and Rocklahoma. A DVD of the historic Sweden performance was made available four years later.

Emmett has said in various interviews over the years that he would welcome the chance to play TRIUMPH songs with Moore and Levine again but that those two have been reluctant to commit. “If the carrot was big enough and golden enough, I think it would make Mike and Gil, but especially Gil, do it,” Emmett told the QMI Agency four years ago.

“I do like playing with the guys. It’s fun. And we go out for dinners together and we’re hanging out again and laughing and joking. The reunion shows, for me, was the real lovely bit of us being back as friends again, for Mike and Gil much less so. For them, they don’t need the playing of the music to return to the magic of the brotherhood thing. And, honestly, when I look back on it all now, doing the Sweden thing and the Rocklahoma thing, yes, there was the money, but I think it was pretty much Gil and Mike saying, ‘You know, I think this will close the circle for Rik. This will be the thing that will make Rik feel the happiest that this has all happened, and that Rik will feel like it has been done right.’ And so it got done and now there’s really not anything compelling them to do it.”

Part of the problem, according to Emmett, is a desire on the part of Levine and Moore, the latter in particular, to embark on a TRIUMPH tour of old with big venues, tons of lasers, lights and pyro — something that most view as unrealistic for an act that hasn’t been an active touring entity for three decades.

“If the offer was there, and it was a solid thing, and it wasn’t just speculative, then it would change the temperature of the conversation,” said Emmett. “But at this point, so much of it is just speculative.

“But if you ask me, in my guts, do I still think there are one or two gigs left in us, I would say yes there is probably the likelihood that something will come along, like maybe some big charity gig, that would get the guys to say, ‘Okay, we’ll strap it on one more time.'”

Swedish experimental extreme metallers MESHUGGAH have set “The Violent Sleep Of Reason” as the title of their new album, due on October 7 via Nuclear Blast.

The CD’s title and artwork were apparently revealed in the new issue of Revolver magazine, which features a full-page ad for the effort.

A photo of the magazine page containing the artwork, as posted on Facebook by a fan, can be seen below.

MESHUGGAH guitarist Mårten Hagström told RockSverige.se last year that he doesn’t usually check out any new music for inspiration when composing material for the band. He said: “Since we’re in writing mode, I don’t listen to music, basically, at all. Not because ‘I’m not gonna listen to music,’ but it’s just that… When you’ve got a lot of stuff to do… You know, I pick up the kid, go home, feed him, put him to bed, and then it’s time for me to work, and I sit and play guitar for… whatever… many hours and try to make some new music, it’s not like I’m gonna kick back and put on an album, regardless of style. But I listen to a lot of stuff; we all do. We don’t listen to the same stuff, but we spread a lot. So we listen to metal, we listen to… anything, basically.”

As previously reported, MESHUGGAH will release the ultimate collectors’ piece, the “25 Years Of Musical Deviance” box set, on July 29 via Nuclear Blast. The set is limited to 1,000 units worldwide; only 585 will be available in the U.S. exclusively via the Nuclear Blast webshop.

MESHUGGAH will embark on a North American headlining tour in October. Support on the trek will come from U.S. metallers HIGH ON FIRE.

In 2014, MESHUGGAH was awarded an exclusive scholarship for its services to the Swedish and international music scene. The musicians were presented with the scholarship and diploma by SKAP president Alfons Karabuda at an intimate event in the south side of Stockholm.

Meshuggah – The Violent Sleep Of Reason – October 7, 2016. Lets do this. – Shout out to John Leonori for the heads up.

POISON will re-team with DEF LEPPARD for a U.S. tour in 2017, it has been revealed.

The two bands first hit the road together back in 2009, and then again three years later.

Asked in a brand new interview with The Salt Lake Tribute about a potential POISON reunion, singer Bret Michaels said: “The honest answer to that is I absolutely hope so, and next year it’ll be POISON and DEF LEPPARD. The last time we were out was, I think, 2012, and we’ll go out and bring it again, and it’ll be insane.”

POISON appeared at the 2013 Indy 500 Miller Lite Carb Day, but has otherwise been mostly playing private shows, including one in January 2015.

POISON drummer Rikki Rockett, who recently successfully completed oral cancer treatment, has been critical of Michaels‘s decision to spend so much time nurturing his solo career. He said in a December 2015 interview: “I don’t know that Bret wants to do another record with us. I think he’ll do shows, I think he’ll do maybe a tour.”

He added: “POISON is my baby, you know what I mean? Thirty years. I don’t wanna kill it off. But at the same time, it will get killed off if we don’t do anything. It’ll just automatically start to suffocate itself. And so, it’s time to do something. This year is definitely decision time.”

POISON hasn’t done any major touring since taking part in the 2012 “Rock Of Ages” trek with DEF LEPPARD and LITA FORD.

In a 2009 interview, DEF LEPPARD frontman Joe Elliott defended his band’s decision to tour with POISON — a group that, just a year earlier, he trashed in the media. Speaking to Noisecreep, Elliott explained, “I didn’t say that [POISON‘s] music had no substance, I said that ours had more. That’s a totally different thing. Yes, it was taken out of proportion. Truth be known, it was a dumb question from a foreign journalist in a press conference where I could barely hear what was going on and I was getting really agitated with being in the room in the first place, so I couldn’t hear the questions. It was a dumb question from a dumb journalist, to a dumb singer about a dumb subject.”

He added, “My belief is that we’re better than them … but I would say that if they just said it about any band whether it be THE WHO or [THE ROLLING STONES] or THE BEATLES — not because I’m an arrogant idiot, but because when you’re in a band, you are absolutely a hundred percent allowed to believe that you’re the best band in the world.

“So if that question had been asked of Bret Michaels, I would have expected him to have answered it in a very similar way. He’s entitled to think that they’re a better band than us, because he’s in the band, you know what I mean? So that certainly wasn’t … it’s not that I thought they had no substance, I just thought that we had more.”